Heroes of Olympus: Fight to the Finish
by ArcherDaughterofApollo
Summary: Two years after the Giant War, the seven heroes thought their days of fighting were over. But with a new Great Prophecy and Gaea still on the loose, the heroes may be up against their biggest enemy yet. And this time, they may not make it out alive.
1. Chapter 1

**So here is the long anticipated beginning of my follow-up for Heart of a Hero. I think that this story is going to end up being more of a collection of one-shots, and it might not be as long as my other stories, but I do want to write it. It took me a while to decide whether I should or not, since my story clashes A LOT with the official Rick Riordan version. (Use that sentence as a disclaimer. I'm obviously not RR.) I think that I'm gonna go ahead and write this for the fun, and maybe someday write a MARK OF ATHENA fic.**

**Without further ado, here's the prologue of Heroes of Olympus: Fight to the Finish.**

The six half-bloods sat around the dining room table of Percy's apartment. Sally and Paul were currently at the doctor's office because Sally had recently discovered she was pregnant. It had only been about a week since Percy's eighteenth birthday party, and during that week, the six of them had all been plagued with the same reoccurring dream.

Annabeth had just been in the middle of describing her dream when there was a knock on the door. Percy got up, wearing a confused expression on his face. The others heard him open the door and exclaim "Reyna!"

Halley jumped up out of her seat and ran hugged her friend. After Reyna had accepted immortality a little over a year ago, the others had rarely seen her. She had been busy traveling with the Hunters and fulfilling her duties as the new goddess of visions and prophecy (a title given to her by her father, Apollo). It had been months since any of them had last seen Reyna, but her showing up at that moment didn't really make any of them feel good. Since Reyna was the goddess of visions, she would know about their dreams, and the majority of the group figured that was why she was there.

When they got resettled at the table, Reyna spoke up.

"So you guys have been having weird dreams lately, right?" she asked.

The others nodded.

"We've all been having the same dream," Annabeth stated.

"It's the same thing," Piper added, "Over, and over, and over again."

Reyna frowned. "What do you guys see?" she asked. She was still getting used to her goddess powers, so she wasn't able to tell what some visions were about, just that they happened.

"Mount Olympus," Leo said. The other six shuddered at the name of the mountain. They hadn't had very good experiences there. "It looked the same as it did last year, but suddenly there's this earthquake, and the mountain splits in two… directly down the middle, exact halves."

"What happens then?" Reyna asked.

"After the mountain splits," Jason continued, "Two images appear in the clouds beside it…"

"The symbols of the two demigod camps," Halley said, "the eagle and the Omega. One on each side of the mountain.

"Then a voice starts speaking, saying that it won't be long before the Greeks and Romans destroy each other," Piper said.

"This is bad," Reyna murmured.

"It gets worse," Percy said. "The voice then says 'You only postponed my rise, heroes. I will rise soon. But until I do, I plan on making your lives very interesting'."

Reyna's eyes widened. She looked around at the rest of the group. _These guys have been through too much already_, she thought. She looked back at Percy.

"That voice has to be Gaea," Reyna said. "But what could she mean by 'very interesting'?"

"She explained that in later dreams," Annabeth said. "Or at least, that's how it was with me. The dream started out with just the mountain splitting and the Greek and Roman camp symbols in the sky. The next time I had it was when I actually heard Gaea's voice, saying what Percy and Piper described. The night before last, when I had this dream, she… she taunted me, saying that she was going to get to find me and that once she did…" Annabeth didn't finish her statement.

"Why on ear… why in Pluto's name would she want that?" Reyna asked. "You guys are supposed to be retired right? What threat are you to her?"

The other six laughed, though it wasn't very cheerful laughter.

"We can't retire from what we are, Rey," Halley stated. "Sure, we can leave camp, go out and live in the real world, but we're never going to be able to actually 'retire' from being demigods. You know that."

"And besides, most of us aren't even eighteen yet," Leo pointed out. "We still attract monsters."

"And we're going to for at least a few more years," Jason added.

"As for what threat we are," Annabeth said, "There's no telling. Like she said, we stopped her from rising once, so maybe she's scared we'll stop her again."

Reyna seemed to consider this. After a few minutes, she cautiously said "So Gaea is going to hunt you guys down to prevent you from possibly preventing her from rising."

The others nodded solemnly.

"As best as we can figure," Piper said.

"So what are you going to do?" Reyna asked.

The other six all looked at each other. Piper and Leo still lived at Camp Half-Blood, which would make them easy to find, but possibly hard to get to. Jason and Halley both lived mostly at the Roman camp, but they did fly over (in an airplane, not on their own, though they possibly could've done that if they had to) every few months to visit. Annabeth went to school in New York so she could be close to camp, Olympus, and Percy. When Jason and Halley came while she was on a break from school, she would sometimes fly back with them to San Francisco to see her family. They had gotten together to decide just what they did need to do.

"We need to keep a sharp eye out," Annabeth said. "Make sure we're always on guard and ready."

"That's just the start of what you need to do," Reyna said. "I didn't want to tell you guys, but I talked with both Rachel and Alley before I came here, and both of them are worried about you guys. Rachel said that some of her recent paintings… she actually thinks it might be best for you guys to split up and keep your heads low."

"What do you mean by that?" Piper asked. "'Keep our heads low?"

"Avoid anything that'll get you noticed in the mythological world," Reyna explained. "Rachel even said that it might be smart if you avoid it as much as you can."

"You mean to go underground?" Jason said.

Reyna nodded, but Leo was a little confused. "Why would we go underground if Gaea is trying to find us?" he asked.

Halley head slapped him. "We're not literally going underground, Hot Head," she explained. "'Go underground' is an expression used to describe going into hiding… or making yourself scarce."

"Oh," Leo responded. "Right. I, uh, forgot that."

Halley rolled her eyes and turned back to the others.

"Do you think it'll work?" Annabeth asked Reyna.

Reyna nodded. "I think if you guys try and stay apart as much as possible and avoid major fighting and stuff you should be okay."

Piper bit her lip. "I'm guessing that puts staying at camp out of the question, doesn't it. If we're supposed to avoid _that_ world, then it wouldn't be a safe place to be."

"Then where are we supposed to stay?" Leo asked. "I mean… where are me and Jason supposed to stay? Unlike you guys, we don't have mortal parents to go back too."

"You could come back to Houston with me, Leo," Halley said. "My mom loves having you around."

Reyna shook her head. "It probably wouldn't be smart for both of you to live in the same house. It would make you easier to track." She frowned, thinking of other options they had. Her eyes lit up when she got an idea. Looking at Halley, she said "Someone could possibly go live with Michelle and her husband."

Halley's eyes widened. "Michelle lives in Memphis though... and I'm _not_ an Elvis fan. And besides, I haven't seen her in forever."

"It would probably be better if you went to stay with her though," Reyna pointed out. "You know who she is."

"So does Jason," Halley argued.

"Um, sorry to interrupt," Percy said, "But the rest of us don't know who Michelle is."

"Michelle is Alley's full sister. She's an extremely gifted musician," Reyna quickly explained. She turned to Halley. "And she doesn't live in Memphis, Hals. She lives a few hours out of Nashville."

"She lives closer to Memphis than Nashville," Halley muttered.

Reyna sighed. "I have to get going," she said as she stood up. "My dad doesn't know I came here. And I don't think he would be happy to find out I snuck out."

"Why's that Reyna?" Annabeth asked.

"The gods are getting restless," Reyna explained. "Some of us are worried Jupiter might close Olympus again."

"Yeah, because that worked so well last time," Jason mumbled.

As Reyna walked towards the door, she turned back towards the others. "Promise me you guys will be careful. We can't…" her eyes widened as she stopped talking. "Uh… bye!" She sprinted out the door before anyone could ask questions.

"Well that was weird," Leo muttered.

"Yeah," Halley agreed, frowning. "I wonder what she was about to say?"

Percy shrugged. "Who knows; maybe she had some important goddess thing to do."

"We still need to figure out what we're going to do," Annabeth said. "As much as I hate to say it, our best option probably is to split apart and hide out."

"But where would everyone go?" Leo asked. "Well, actually, where would me and Jason go?"

Jason opened his mouth to say something, but Halley interrupted him.

"Well, there's Michelle's house, but Jason can't stay there. Michelle's husband hates him." She said this with a smirk, like she was remembering why Michelle's husband hated Jason.

"Why does he hate you?" Piper asked Jason.

Jason gave a small chuckle. "He's a son of Mars, and was praetor of the First Legion before I was. He got really mad when people at camp started paying more attention to me and not him. And he hated the fact that I became praetor when he left camp. I think he had been hoping that one of his siblings would receive the title."

"So he's still mad at you about that?" Leo asked with a laugh.

Jason nodded. "Yep, so it wouldn't be smart for me to stay there."

"I'll stay there," Halley said, pulling out her cell phone. She actually less problems with technology than most demigods, considering who her dad was. Even still, she stood up and backed away from the table, so her phone wouldn't pick up the other five. "Leo can stay with my mom. As for Jason, I don't know where we can stick him. Maybe Reyna's grandparents' house?"

Jason's eyes widened. "You're joking right?" he asked Halley. "They don't even know about us or the whole gods deal. They think Reyna's been living with her dad's family all these years."

"Okay then," Halley murmured, scrolling through the contacts in her phone (which really wasn't that many people). "Uh… how about…"

"What about Dakota's mom?" Jason interrupted.

Halley glanced up at him. "I could get Dakota to ask her. I doubt she'd mind." She punched a number into her phone and walked into another room. The others could hear her talking to someone.

"Where does Dakota's mom live?" Piper asked.

Jason thought for a second before answering. "Missouri, I think. She lives close enough to the Oklahoma line she could almost live there, but I am pretty sure it's Missouri."

"My dad grew up in Oklahoma," Piper said. "We still go to visit my Grandpa Tom's cabin there from time to time. But I haven't been there in forever."

Halley walked back into the room. "Okay, so Jason's staying with Ms. Harmon. I called my mom and she's totally cool with Leo coming to stay there, and Michelle said she'd have my room ready. As for the rest of you guys…"

"I'll get up with my dad," Piper said. "He called me during the summer anyway saying that if I was interested, I could travel to Europe with him in the fall. He's shooting a movie or something, and he thought it'd be cool if I went with him… since I've never been to Europe." She smirked at the last comment.

"You still haven't told him?" Annabeth asked.

Piper shook her head. "I just haven't found the right time to tell him."

"Where in Europe will you be?" Percy asked.

Piper grinned. "Rome," she replied. "Dad said that he's staring in a movie about a Roman senator or something another… I'm not sure what he said it was."

Halley stared at her. "You're going to Rome? I've always wanted to go there!"

"We know, Halley," Jason responded. He had grown up listening to how much Halley wanted to travel the world… starting with Rome.

"Just be careful when you're there, Piper," Halley said, ignoring Jason. "Some Romans are a little touchy about demigods, and they know more about us than you'd think. I suggest you stay as far away from Vatican City as possible"

"Don't worry," Piper said. "I wasn't planning on going there."

"Alright," Annabeth said. "So that takes care of you guys…" She glanced at Percy. "I guess you'll be staying here?"

Percy nodded. "Unless if it starts looking too dangerous. If it does I'll find another place to go. Are you going to live with your dad?"

Annabeth considered this. With a sigh, she said "I guess so. I'd hate to switch schools right before my senior year, but it's not like I've never done that before." She stood up and walked into another room with her phone.

"Do you mind if I use your phone?" Piper asked Percy.

"Sure, there's one in the hall," Percy said, pointing towards the hallway.

Piper jumped up and ran to make the call.

While they were gone, the other four sat around the table and waited, since they didn't have Annabeth to help them make a plan. Halley started digging through her bag, looking for something, exclaiming every few minutes that she didn't remember putting certain items in there. Leo pulled random items out of his tool belt, passing breath mints out to the other three.

Eventually Piper and Annabeth came back into the room. As they sat down, Leo threw in a question.

"Okay, so now that we know where we're all going," he said, "How long are we going to stay apart?"

"Did the dream say anything about when…?" Halley started to ask, but Jason interrupted her.

"Until the Gaea problem is solved, we should probably stay separate," he said grimly, looking at Piper.

"We don't know when that will be," Percy pointed out.

"Yeah, who knows how long we'll have to be apart," Piper added.

"We don't have any other choice," Annabeth said. "If we stay together, everyone we know could be in danger. It's best for everyone if we stay apart."

The others thought about this. Annabeth had a point. Gaea would no doubt go through anything to get to them, which would put the others in trouble.

"How about this," Jason said, sitting up in his chair. "We separate for a few months, avoiding contact with each other unless if there's an emergency. Then we'll meet back up at the end of the months."

**Please don't expect quick updates. I'm very busy with school and my other story THE MOST WANTED. But I will update!**

**Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**So I think I've figured out how I'm going to work through this story and hopefully get some of the SON characters into it. Rick Riordan's Reyna will probably not make an appearance, since I already have the character of Reyna developed for my story. Dakota probably won't change either, though I might throw in some Kool-Aid jokes for the heck of it. Hazel is still up in the air. I had written her in as a daughter of Trivia in Journey to Greece, and I don't think I mentioned her at all in Heart of a Hero, so it is possible I could bring her in as her cannon, though she wouldn't be as big of a character as she is in the series. I really want to get Frank in there… though I'm still working on how to do that. I have an idea, which I actually think is a pretty good one, but I'm just not sure.**

It was a dreary, rainy, March afternoon in New York City. A young, blonde girl walked down the street confidently. This young girl walked with her head held high, a look of importance etched on her kind face. Her brown eyes glistened with knowledge from underneath her hood. She wore a purple t-shirt covered by a silver rain jacket and a pair of faded blue jeans tucked into black rain boots with colorful polka dots. Anyone who passed her on the streets as she walked through Manhattan thought she was a normal teenage girl. But underneath her hood she hid an odd circlet thing that was designed with silver and gold metal wrapped together that sat across her brow like an Ancient Greek royalty. Also hidden under her jacket was a silver necklace adorned with a crescent moon charm.

As the girl walked the streets, she looked up at the tall skyscrapers of the city. She was looking for one building in particular: an apartment building located in the upper east side of the city. When she did find the apartment building, she wasted no time making her way up to the fifth floor. She knocked on the door of an apartment, pretty sure it was the one she was looking for.

Sure enough, a few minutes after she knocked, a tall black haired boy opened the door. He looked about eighteen, with sea green eyes that had a look of confusion in them when he saw the girl standing at the door.

"Reyna?" the boy asked. His voice was etched with worry. "What are you doing here?"

Before Reyna could answer, a female voice called out from the apartment.

"Percy? Who is it?"

Percy turned his head into the apartment. "It's Reyna," he answered.

A few seconds later, a blonde girl appeared in the door behind Percy. She was a few inches shorter than him, but appeared close to the same age. When she saw Reyna standing out in the hallway, her stormy gray eyes widened. She knew there was no reason Reyna would be here unless something was wrong. Without saying anything, she reached out and grabbed Reyna's hand, pulling her into the apartment.

"Annabeth," Reyna said, "What…"

Annabeth released Reyna's hand and turned to face her, crossing her arms over her chest in the process.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in a serious tone.

"I asked the same thing," Percy said.

Ignoring Percy, Reyna looked at Annabeth curiously. "I thought you were in San Francisco."

"I was," Annabeth said. "But I started getting swarmed by monsters so I had to leave. I came here thinking Percy could help me figure out where to go."

Reyna nodded. "Okay. Either way I'm glad both of you are here. Something's up. Nico contacted me the other day saying he's been having funny dreams. It sounded a lot like the dreams you guys had had."

Percy and Annabeth exchanged glances. They hadn't seen Reyna in many months, and the last time they had seen her… Now she was telling them one of the other demigods who had fought in the Giant War was having weird dreams.

"Why would he be having the dreams?" Annabeth asked, though she knew the answer already.

Reyna sighed. "Gaea is scared of demigods… and I don't think it's just the ones that fought in Greece. Our generation is the most powerful generation of half-bloods in hundreds of years. I think Gaea believes the next generation might actually be _more_ powerful."

"The next generation?" Percy asked.

"Well, not exactly the next generation," Reyna said. "It's more like the next group… the next generation would be _our_ kids. They would be powerful, but I'm pretty sure Gaea is afraid of the group after us." Reyna pursed her lips. "Actually… I think she's scared of our combined groups. You remember the prophecy right?"

Annabeth nodded and recited the lines from the most current Great Prophecy that Rachel had given about a year and a half ago.

"_Greeks and Romans, at last combined,_

_Return the heroes with fates intertwined._

_Worlds torn apart with hate and sorrow,_

_Few remain, but more shall follow._

_Search with their eyes to find the light,_

_Only one life can set things right._

_Until the end must they remain,_

_The god, the hero, and the lost love to reclaim."_

When she finished, she looked at Reyna curiously. "What does that have to do with it though?"

"My thoughts are," Reyna said slowly. "And this isn't exactly what's going to happen. Dad hasn't let me know that. But what I think is that the second line… the one about heroes with fates intertwined… I think that _we're_ the heroes that will be returned."

Suddenly, there was the sound of loud banging on the door. The three all looked at each other as Percy got up to check who it was. He had his hand in his pocket, ready to pull Riptide out if anything went wrong. Annabeth and Reyna sat silently, Annabeth watching Reyna's face to see if she would give any hint of knowing who was at the door.

It was silent for a few seconds when Percy opened the door. Reyna and Annabeth were both holding their breath.

Percy's voice rang out through the apartment. "Annabeth! Reyna! Come here!" His tone sounded urgent.

The two girls ran to the door. When they saw who was standing there, they both gasped. Three boys, all about eighteenish, with scared looks etched on their faces. They recognized them immediately. It was Jason, Leo, and Dakota. They each looked like they had been through Hades and back.

"My gods guys," Annabeth said. "What _happened_?"

They stumbled into the apartment. It was obvious they were exhausted.

"We have a major problem," Jason said as he collapsed onto the couch. Dakota flopped down into one of the armchairs. Leo didn't even bother to find a chair, but crashed to the floor instead.

"What problem?" Reyna asked. She moved between the three of them, healing they're cuts and other various injuries. Even though she was the goddess of visions and prophecy, she had still been allowed to keep her healing abilities.

"You remember how Piper went to Europe with her dad?" Jason asked. "Well… she was supposed to come back a couple of weeks ago. We were going to meet at her grandfather's cabin in Oklahoma. Only, she never showed up."

"Her plane was probably late or something," Annabeth said, trying to reassure him.

Jason shook his head. "She would've called or something."

"So you think something happened to her in Europe," Percy filled in.

"Something would've had to," Jason said. "Why else would she not have made any contact at all?"

"She did," Leo mumbled. He was laying face down on the floor, so it sounded more "Mmmm dmm."

"What do you mean she did?" Reyna asked.

Leo pushed his upper body off the floor and looked at Annabeth. "You haven't checked your phone recently, have you?"

Annabeth frowned. "No… why are you asking?"

Leo sighed. "Halley called her mom a few days ago, saying she got a text from Piper."

"It was a warning," Dakota said. "Halley forwarded the message to me."

Annabeth stood up and grabbed her cell phone out of her book bag. She wasted no time scrolling through her messages (which wasn't all that many). She opened Piper's message.

_March 5, 11:30 PM_

_I'm in Paris, but they found me. I'm okay, but I'm not going to be able to come home any time soon. Something's happened... guys, be careful. Gaea has agents out looking for us. Don't let them get you too._

_-Beauty Queen_

She read this message out loud so the others could hear it. When she finished, Reyna stood up from her seat.

"It's worse than I thought," she said, biting her lip. "I'll go do some more research. Maybe I can go to Europe to find Piper."

"Halley's already headed that way," Dakota said.

That news wasn't exactly accepted well. The others in the group stared at him like he was crazy. Leo jumped to his feet. "Why didn't she tell anyone? Is she insane?" He paused for a second, considering what he had just said. "Actually, ignore that last statement. I'm pretty sure we all know she is insane. What I mean is… does she have a death wish?"

"Leo! Calm down!" Annabeth shouted. "Halley obviously told Dakota."

"And she's a highly trained fighter," Percy said. "She can take care of herself."

"But you heard Piper's warning!" Leo protested. "And now Halley's going to find her!"

Reyna studied Leo. "They found you too," she said slowly.

Leo stared at her in shock for a second and then hung his head.

"Leo, what happened?"

He clenched his fists. "It was about a week ago…"

…

"Leo! Leo wake up!"

Leo groaned and rolled over in his sleep. He had been enjoying his dream, which almost never happened, but now someone was yelling at him.

"Leo, wake up or I _will_ hurt you."

He opened his eyes slightly and saw the girl standing at the foot of his bed. She was glaring at him. He couldn't see her very clearly in the dark room and the sleep in his eyes.

"Halley?" he mumbled.

"No, it's Maricel," she said. "But that doesn't mean I'm not capable of hurting you. Halley did train me. Now get up!"

"What time is it?" Leo grumbled as he sat up. He looked at Maricel. She looked a lot like Halley, her half-sister, but lacked the sharp body features that distinguished Halley as a daughter of Mercury. She also wasn't as tall as Halley had been when she was

"Three in the morning," Maricel said shrugging. "Maybe two. Mom sent me to tell you that you're in a whole lot of trouble."

That woke Leo up. He jumped to his feet and grabbed his tool belt and sword. "Why didn't you say that first?"

"You wouldn't have heard me… I know how hard it is to wake you half-bloods up when you're having one of your demigod dreams."

Leo cursed as he ran towards the door, just to be met by Halley and Maricel's mom Christine.

"Leo!" she exclaimed. "You need to get out of here!"

"What's going on Mrs. Ramirez?" Leo asked.

"There's no time to explain," Christine said as she pushed him and Maricel out the door. "I already have you a bag packed downstairs Leo. You too Marci."

"Wait, what?" Maricel asked. "Me? Why me?"

Christine stopped in the middle of the hallway. She grabbed onto Maricel's shoulders and looked her daughter in the eyes. "Now listen to me, both of you," she said. "Halley sent me an Iris Message last night telling me about a text message from Piper. She didn't give me a lot of details about what Piper had said, but she did say that you needed to get out of here as soon as you could Leo. She said that she was scared something would happen if you stayed here any longer. That's why you have to leave."

"I still don't understand while_ I'm_ leaving," Maricel said.

"It's for your own good sweetie," her mother said. "Me and your father will be fine, but I need you to go with Leo." She looked at Leo. "I need you to protect her, Leo."

"Sure Mrs. Ramirez," Leo replied. He glanced at Maricel. "I promise I'll keep you safe, Marci. And not just because Halley would kill me if I didn't."

The three of them ran down the stairs quickly and Christine threw them each a bag. "Be careful, please."

She wrapped them each in a hug and then sent them out the door. Maricel turned and looked back at her house.

"I can't leave my parents, Leo," she whispered.

Leo grabbed her hand. "They'll be fine Marci. But we won't be if we don't get out of here." He dragged her out to his car. "Jump in and buckle up."

Maricel didn't argue, but jumped into the passenger seat as Leo started the car. Leo wasted no time putting the car into gear and speeding out of the driveway. While he did, he thought back to what Christine had said about Halley.

"Halley's in trouble," he murmured. "But I don't know how to help her. Why would she not contact me if she needed help?"

"Maybe she did," Maricel said. "I mean, Mom said she called. Maybe she was trying to get a hold of you. After all, you were in the shop for a long time last night."

Leo gripped the wheel tightly. He knew Halley well enough to know she wouldn't have called her mom if she was being followed unless there was something bigger going on. Halley loved her mom, and she wasn't scared to talk to her about _normal_ problems, but when it came to problems from the demigod world, Christine wasn't Halley's number-one go-to person.

Leo glanced over at Maricel. How good would she be if they had to fight?

"I can fight, Leo," she muttered, answering his unspoken question.

"How'd you…"

"What else would you be worried about?" Maricel stated. "Except Halley, of course."

"Halley would kill me if I let anything happen to you," Leo said.

"Nothing will. She trained me herself. Sure, I don't have the natural fighting abilities you guys do, but I'm decent enough to hold my own."

Leo nodded and continued driving. He kept driving for a few hours, fighting off drowsiness while Maricel slept. When she woke up, she mumbled something about needing to use the bathroom. Leo couldn't help but laugh as he pulled off at the next gas station.

They were the only customers in the store. The old guy at the counter winked as Maricel walked by. She glared at him as Leo wrapped an arm around her protectively.

"Creep," she muttered under her breath. Leo couldn't help but grin at her.

They finished in the store quickly, but when they walked outside to the car, they were met with the rear end of a huge lion. Leo pushed Maricel over behind a firewood crate.

"Keep your head down. That's not the Nemean, but it's probably very closely related."

"How do you know it's not the Nemean?" Maricel asked.

"Not big enough," Leo muttered. "Percy told me about his run in with the Nemean once… I'm pretty sure this isn't him."

They sat in silence for a second. Leo silently cursing under his breath.

"L...Leo, I need to tell you something," Maricel said shakily.

"Shhh," Leo whispered. He glanced to where is car was parked. He hoped the lion wouldn't find it, because that was their escape route. If only Maricel didn't have such a small bladder. "Tell me when we get out of here."

Maricel looked out towards the lion. It was circling the building they had just exited, tracking Leo's scent.

"Okay Marci," Leo whispered, "here's what were going to have to do. I need you to take the car, nonchalantly. You're gonna pop the trunk, give me about five seconds to jump in, and drive off as fast as you can."

"Why?"

"Because we need to get out of here," Leo said. "Don't worry; I'll distract the lion while you get the car."

"Won't it just pounce on the car when you jump in?"

"That's why you're getting our tell ends out of here ASAP." he looked at her skeptically. "You can drive right?"

Maricel nodded. "Don't know how well I'll do being chased by a two-ton lion."

"You only have to for a little while," Leo reassured her. "And I'll be up there as soon as I can. The back seats open up to the trunk."

"Okay," Maricel muttered. "But be careful Leo."

Leo nodded and stood up from his hiding place. By that time, the lion had discovered what direction his smell was coming from. At least, Leo assumed that it was his smell. Maricel didn't exactly have a demigod smell to track. Leo knew he did. He wasn't quite eighteen, and apparently his scent wasn't as strong as it had been when he was younger, but he knew that he had a pretty strong aura compared to most normal demigods. That probably meant that Leo's scent at eighteen would be about as strong as a normal half-blood's scent at fifteen or sixteen.

"Hey hairball!" Leo yelled.

The lion turned towards him. After studying him for a second, the beast roared.

"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya," Leo said. "Say, you got a name? Or should I pick one for you? I've got to call you something."

The lion growled, a deep throaty sound that Leo more so felt than heard. Out of the corner of his eye, Leo could see Maricel sneaking towards the car. He had to keep the lion from seeing her, though he doubted that the lion would care much about a quirky mortal girl.

"I could always call you 'Leo'," Leo continued. "Pretty good name if I do say so myself. Especially for a lion. Doesn't Leo mean lion?"

Leo was surprised that Maricel hadn't doubled over laughing at him yet. He was pulling the trick Halley had taught him… talk the ears off your enemies and you stand a better chance of getting out of whatever bad situation you're in.

He could've kept talking for a long time, but unfortunately, the lion turned away from him.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Leo asked. The lion was getting dangerously close to catching sight of Maricel. He was still hoping the thing wouldn't pay attention her. She was just a mortal… no threat at all.

Desperate, Leo threw a fireball at the lion. The beast turned, roared, and pounced. Leo jumped out of the way in just enough time to not get flattened. He sprang to his feet, wishing he had his tool belt or some other kind of weapon. Unfortunately, his tool belt was in the car.

Flame wouldn't keep the lion at bay long. But if Leo could hold him at bay long enough for…

The sound of a car engine filled the air. Leo looked over to the car. So did the lion. In a split second of recognition, the lion turned from Leo to the car. It crouched, ready to pounce.

"Marci!" Leo yelled, realizing what was happening. "Get out of there!"

That's when everything seemed to happen at once… but it happened in slow motion. The lion pounced. But before it landed on the car, a flash of white light engulfed it. Leo felt the blast from the light. It was freezing cold, and strangely familiar. Leo turned away from the car until the light dimmed.

When he turned around, he saw the car was completely destroyed. Maricel was laying a little ways away from the wreckage. The lion was nowhere in sight.

Leo quickly ran to where Maricel was laying.

"Marci? Marci, wake up!"

Maricel groaned as Leo helped her sit up. "What happened?" she asked.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Leo stated. "What was that flash of light?"

Marci shook her head. "I don't know. The lion pounced, and I had to defend myself. Something came over me… I don't what it was."

"Is this the first time it's ever happened?"

"No," Maricel said quietly. "I… I was going to tell you, but I never got a chance. Halley's the only one that knows anything about this. She was trying to figure out what was going on, but she never got back to me about it." She looked up at Leo with a childlike innocence in her eyes. "Do you know what it is?"

Leo frowned. "I'm sorry Marci, but I've never seen anything like this before. I mean… it would make a lot more sense if you were a half-blood, but you're not."

Maricel lifted her hand and stared at it. "It doesn't make sense," she murmured.

"Here, let me see your hand," Leo said.

As soon as he took her hand, a freezing cold shock went through his body. Leo yelled in pain. Something was wrong. This wasn't supposed to happen.

"Leo," he heard Maricel say. Her voice sounded far away. Leo could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness. "Leo!"

That was the last thing Leo heard before he passed out completely.

…

"When I woke up," Leo said, continuing his story. "Marci had managed to jack another car. She was driving us down the road. I woke up in the backseat, my head spinning. I knew something was different. I was cold, but it wasn't a normal kind of cold. I get cold on the outside like everyone else, but I always have a kind of interior warmth. I woke up, and that was gone."

"Oh no," Reyna murmured. "Leo…"

He shook his head. "There's more."

Leo then extended his hand, palm up.

"Don't set my apartment on fire, Leo," Percy warned.

"There's nothing to worry about," Leo said reassuringly. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

Nothing happened.

The others in the group stared at him.

"Leo… what happened to your flame?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't know. It's just not there anymore." Leo sounded defeated. "But before you get the wrong idea, it wasn't Marci's fault. She didn't know what was going on anymore than I did."

"Where is she now Leo?" Reyna asked.

"With my mom," Dakota said, standing up from his chair. "She should be okay there. No one really cares about my life, since I'm just a good-for-nothing son of Mercury."

"That's not true Dakota," Reyna said. "But as long as Marci's out of trouble." She looked at Leo. "You said your powers are gone…"

Leo nodded solemnly. "I can't summon fire anymore."

Reyna frowned. "So obviously, Gaea found you. But why would she have not captured you… or killed you? Why would she just take your powers?"

"How would I know? Maybe I was just too _hot_ for her to handle."

They all groaned. Then Jason sat up. "What if that's what happened to Piper? She said they found her, but she was okay. What if they jacked her powers?"

"How could they do that?" Annabeth asked as she shook her head.

Jason frowned. "Piper's powers come from her voice… if they could figure out how to get rid of her voice, then she would lose her powers."

Annabeth's phone vibrated at the same time Dakota's did. The both glanced at each other and then checked the message.

"It's from Halley," Dakota said.

_March 9 6:23 PM_

_Guys, I'm in Europe. Dakota, I need you here to help me. It's worse than I thought it would be. Gaea has agents everywhere I turn. Tell the others to watch out. Piper's only given me a general idea of where she's hiding. She hasn't told me much of what's going on, but she said that I can't call her. I hate to say it, but I'm scared that we might be up against something worse than the giants._

_-FlyGirl_

"I'm going," Dakota said. "She said she needed help, and I'm going to help her."

Reyna shook her head. "I don't like this, but you're right Dakota. She needs help. Just be careful, okay?"

Dakota grinned. "Of course. When am I ever not careful?"

Jason coughed. When Dakota glared at him, he grinned sadly. "Just bring them both back, okay bro?"

"Sure thing Jason."

The son of Mercury left the apartment. Reyna looked at the other four.

"I'm going to go do some research. You four stay hidden." She frowned. "I don't know if you need to stay apart or not, but be careful either way."

With those final words, Reyna flashed out. Leaving the others to figure out what they need to do.

**So, that was a pretty long chapter. I'm pretty proud of it though :). I hope that it makes sense. I'll be clearing some stuff up in later chapters.**

**Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Finished chapter 2. Finally figured out a way to get Hazel and Frank in there. **

Piper grinned over at her father. He looked ridiculous in his huge aviators and his fedora hat. He was trying to hide his identity so they could enjoy their day. But as much as she tried, Piper just couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen. It was this growing chill that had been creeping slowly down her spine since this morning… ever since she had ran into that strangely familiar woman in the hotel, who had yelled at her in French. Piper understood her perfectly, but like with everyone she had met in France, she pretended not to. Instead, she stuttered things like "Sorry, my bad" and "Excuse me ma'am." The woman had walked off, mumbling something about "ignorant American teenagers".

Piper was trying to too the fact that she was fluent with French as hidden as possible from her father. She told him that she had been taking French as a foreign language at her school (a.k.a. Camp Half-Blood), but she hadn't let him hear the full extent of her love-language knowledge.

The woman from the hotel kept coming back to Piper's mind. The way she had spoken, even in French, reminded Piper of someone she knew.

"You okay Pipes?" Tristan asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah Dad, I'm fine."

Tristan didn't look convinced. "I'm going to go to the bathroom," he said. "Then you can tell me what's on your mind."

Piper didn't argue as she leaned back in her chair. Tristan walked off and a waiter came to get their drink orders. Piper ordered and then sat quietly, pondering what she was going to tell her dad.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket. Piper glanced around and cautiously pulled it out. It was a text message from Halley.

Piper frowned. She only had a phone because her dad had insisted on buying her one before they went to Europe. She only had three numbers in her contact list: Tristan's, Halley's, and Annabeth's. The phone was strictly for emergencies only. Halley and Annabeth hadn't contacted her since she had given them her number, and she hadn't contacted them.

Piper glanced at the unopened message on her screen. She was about to open it when she sensed someone behind her. She spun around in her chair, startling the woman standing behind her.

"Oh!" Piper exclaimed. "Pardon me mademoiselle." That's when the recognition hit her. "You're the lady from this morning!"

"And you're the ignorant American girl who ran me over," the woman replied with a thick French accent.

"You speak English?" Piper asked.

"Of course," the woman scoffed with obvious disgust.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Piper said.

The waiter brought Piper's drink. The strange woman eyed it for a moment, or at least it seemed like she was to Piper. Only, she couldn't see the woman's eyes under her large, bug-eye sunglasses.

"What is that you're drinking, dear?" the woman asked.

There. Another chill shot up Piper's spine. The way that lady said "dear"…

"Uh, Coca-Cola," Piper responded.

"Really?" she asked with interest.

Piper nodded, starting to get really weirded out.

"So you're here with your father?"

The sudden change of subject caught Piper off guard. "Um, yeah."

"Is that him?" the woman said, pointing towards the front of the door of the café, where Tristan had just walked out.

Piper turned to look. "Yeah, that's him," she answered. She turned back, but the woman was gone.

"That was weird," Piper murmured as she reached for her drink and took a small sip.

"So Pipes," he dad said as he sat down. "What's go you so quiet?"

Piper took a deep breath. After two years of fining out she was a demigod, Piper still hadn't found a way to tell Tristan about it. But something told her she needed to now.

"Do you remember when you were kidnapped a few years ago Dad?" she asked cautiously.

Tristan nodded slowly. "I still don't remember what happened, exactly, but I remember the huge commotion it caused."

"You… you don't remember how you got a way, do you?"

Tristan frowned. "Not exactly, no. What's all this about Pipes?"

Piper stalled, taking another sip of her drink. As she did, Mellie walked (or rather floated) up. She smiled and said: "Mr. McLean, the set called. They said that if you want, you can have the rest of the day off."

"Seriously?" Tristan asked in slight disbelief.

"Yeah," Mellie said lightly. "Apparently they have some editing they're behind in and they're trying to get that finished up."

"Well then," Tristan said with a grin. "How's that sound to you Pipes?"

Piper smiled and started to respond, but suddenly a sharp pain struck her throat.

"Ah!" she doubled over in pain, grabbing at her throat.

"Pipes?" he dad asked with worry evident in his voice. "What's wrong?"

Mellie knelt down next to her. Piper caught her eye through the pain and sent her a silent message. _Help._

"Mr. McLean, we need to get Piper back to hotel… now!"

"Mellie, what is going on?"

"Sir, please," Mellie said, desperately trying to help Piper to her feet.

"Is your daughter alright?" a bystander asked. "Should I call an ambulance?"

Before Tristan could answer, Mellie said "No!" Then the aura turned back to Tristan. "Sir, I'll explain when we get to the hotel. But Piper does _not_ need to go to a hospital!"

…

It was a short cab ride from the diner to the hotel, especially when Tristan pulled down his shades and said he'd pay extra if the cabbie got them there in less than ten minutes.

Piper's throat felt like it was on fire. Even once they had gotten back to their room, and she was at the mercy of Mellie's healing remedies it didn't make it feel any better. She would've screamed, but her voice wasn't working.

Wait. Her voice! That was it! Piper grabbed Mellie's arm and gestured to her throat.

"I know Piper," Mellie said quietly. "I'm trying to stop it."

Piper shook her head gently and then touched her lips, trying to sign something referring to her voice.

Mellie frowned. "What are you trying to say?" she asked. That was when she figured it out.

"Oh gods Piper! Your voice!" Mellie grabbed her arms gently. "It must be a poison. Gaea's found you."

Piper leaned back against the pillow and attempted to groan. Why did this have to happen? She signed using a phone to Mellie. The aura didn't really look very happy about allowing her to have it, but eventually gave Piper her cell phone.

Piper looked at the message from Halley first. Surprisingly it wasn't alarming and it didn't sound like she was in danger at all. In fact, it was just the opposite. Piper couldn't help but grin at the ridiculous nicknames Halley was using. She, Annabeth, and Piper had decided that since it was dangerous enough for them to have phones in the first place, they didn't want to give the monsters any other way of figuring out who they were. They weren't sure if the monsters would be able to read the text messages or not, but they thought it better safe than sorry. So they created nicknames for everyone, even the guys who didn't have phones.

_Hey, Beauty Queen! My bro texted me, sending a question from a certain guy by the name "Sparky" ;) Sparky wants to know when you'll be coming back to the States. The "Thoughtful Thief", as my annoying brother insists on being called, says Sparky is driving him crazy. According to him, Sparky still has plans to meet you at the place you already know about. Let me know so I can pass the news onto the other two bozos! K, later! :)_

_-FlyGirl  
><em> 

_That message would've been funny this morning_, Piper couldn't help but think. She knew she couldn't go back to the states and meet with Jason. If Gaea had found her, she couldn't risk leading her to the others.

Piper decided the best way would be to send them a warning. So she created a new message and sent it to Halley and Annabeth. Then she turned her phone off and handed it to Mellie.

"I'll call Chiron," Mellie said. "He can help you."

The pain in Piper's throat was slowly dying down, and she shook her head.

"Don't call Chiron?" Mellie asked. "Why?"

Piper made a writing gesture with her hand. Fortunately, Mellie got the message and scrambled to get a pencil and paper. Piper quickly wrote down a note for her.

"You can't get involved with that world anymore than you have too," Mellie said, reading Piper's note out loud. "But… Piper!"

Before Piper could write another note down, or before Mellie could say more, Tristan walked into Piper's room. He looked happy to see her awake.

"Pipes! Glad to see you awake. How are you feeling?"

His words made Piper want to cry. She couldn't tell him how she was feeling. Desperate, she sent a silent plea to Mellie.

"Her throat is awfully sore, sir," Mellie said. "I don't think she should be talking very much."

Tristan nodded slowly. "Do you know how this happened?"

Mellie looked at Piper for the answer. Piper wrote something down on her paper.

_An allergic reaction or something_. Piper's desperate handwriting read. _He doesn't know the truth._

The aura relayed the first half of the message to Tristan, who seemed to believe it, but didn't seem happy about it.

"I never knew Piper was allergic to anything," her father said.

"Oh it's probably just some special French spice or something," Mellie said. "Don't worry about it sir. I'll take care of her. I don't think there's any reason to call a doctor or anything."

Tristan nodded. Piper couldn't help but notice that he was a little resigned. He studied her for a few seconds before saying "I hope you start feeling better Pipes. Then maybe you can tell me what you were going to tell me earlier."

Piper nodded in response as her dad walked out the door. She could sense Mellie giving her a confused look. Once they were sure Tristan was out of earshot, Mellie asked:

"What were you going to tell him?"

Piper took her paper back and wrote down two quick words.

_The Truth._

…

Reyna kept her hood pulled up close around her face, trying to keep it hidden. Being back at Camp Jupiter had its perks, but Reyna was too recognizable and she really didn't want to be recognized right now.

She was in the city with a specific mission. Reyna was looking for an old friend she had met while she was in the Legion, and she was pretty sure that friend lived in the city now.

As Reyna walked down the streets, she couldn't help but think back to when she used to walk down the same streets almost every day. She smiled when she noticed familiar spots. The store where she first witnessed Halley's theft skills (they'd ended up having to scoop a lot of unicorn poop for that stunt); the place where Dakota and Jason had demolished an entire armory (they're punishment had been scrubbing the streets with toothbrushes); the spot where Jason had given Reyna her first kiss…

Reyna shook her head. Why was she thinking about that? With a sigh, she looked up and saw exactly the store she was looking for. She grinned and walked through the door.

"Hazel?" Reyna called out. "Are you here?"

A young woman popped up from behind the counter. She had long black hair and mysterious looking eyes that had a slight glint to them that suggested this girl could be up to a lot more than she seemed at first. A sapphire set in a silver necklace dangled around her neck.

"Reyna? Is that you?"

Reyna lowered her hood and smiled at the girl. "Yep, it's me. How's it going Hazel?"

Hazel grinned. "It's great. I love living here, and there's never a dull moment in the shop." She laughed and raised an eyebrow at Reyna. "And I don't really go by Hazel anymore."

"Why?" Reyna asked with a frown. "What do you go by?"

"Haze or Hazie. I know it's not that different, but I like it. Makes me sound more… _mysterious_." She wiggled her fingers like she was going to cast a spell, (which, being a daughter of Trivia was always a possibility with her). "Besides, there's another girl in the Legion named Hazel Levesque. She's a daughter of Pluto and a pretty big deal over in the camp. Rumor has it that she was brought back from the dead by that Nico di'Angelo kid, back when the Doors of Death were still unlocked."

Reyna's eyes widened. "You said she was a daughter of Pluto?"

Hazel nodded. "Yeah. Apparently, she went on some big quest with this son of Mars guy… Frank Zhang, I think his name was. They got a pretty big rep from it too."

"I guess the camp needed some new heroes," Reyna said with a smirk.

"You know it," Hazel agreed. "The stories of the Titans and the Giants are starting to get old."

They both laughed at this, being veterans of the Titan war, and Reyna being one from the Giant war.

When they did stop laughing, Hazel turned to Reyna with a serious expression. "So why'd you come down here Rey? I would've figured those goddess duties would've had your schedule filled."

Reyna glanced around her, making sure she wouldn't be overheard and in a whisper said: "I need to talk to you about something, but it's private."

Hazel seemed to understand immediately. "Oh sure thing! Just give me a sec to close up shop." She waved her finger and the open door shut and locked. The "Open" sign flipped to the "Closed" side.

"I've got a room in the back we can go too," Hazel said as she started making her way back there. "Plus I put a 'no eavesdropping' spell on the store, so we should be fine."

"Good," Reyna replied, breathing a sigh of relief.

Hazel led her to a small kitchen area in the back of the shop. Reyna sat down at the small round table while Hazel fixed them each a cup of tea. Then Hazel sat down across from her.

"So, what's on your mind Rey?"

Reyna sat down her cup. "I have a question for you. It's right up your line of expertise." She paused, debating which words to use. When she decided she looked Hazel in the eye. "How could a demigod… a very powerful demigod… lose his powers?"

Hazel sipped at her tea while frowning in concentration. "That's a toughie Reyna," she said. "It's nearly impossible for any demigod to lose their powers, even if they are incredibly weak. I didn't really think it would be possible for a really powerful half-blood to lose theirs."

"It did happen though," Reyna said. "To…" she bit her lip.

Hazel raised her eyebrow. "Who'd it happen to? That actually might help me figure out what happened."

Reyna sighed. "Leo Valdez."

"The fire-user?" Hazel asked. "The guy that defeated Khione solo?"

Reyna nodded. She figured it would be best to go ahead and tell Hazel Leo's story of what happened to his powers. When she finished, Hazel was deep in thought.

"That explains it," she murmured, looking up at Reyna. "As far as I know, there's really only two ways to get rid of a half-blood's powers. With Leo, I think that his powers were jacked by a very powerful being."

"Gaea?" Reyna asked.

"Yes, and no," Hazel responded. "Whoever it was, they were more than likely working for Gaea, but I don't think it was Gaea directly." She thought for a second. "You said that Leo thinks it happened when he grabbed Maricel's hand?"

Reyna nodded again.

"Well, since we know for sure that Marci is just a clear-sighted mortal, then someone had to be using her as a sort of power funnel; a way to get to Leo without getting directly involved. I'd put my money on a god or goddess that really wants to screw with Leo's life."

"Leo said that when Marci accidentally blasted that lion, he felt a really familiar freezing cold blast." Reyna paused before saying "I think it was Khione."

"That's it!" Hazel exclaimed excitedly. "It makes sense too. Hasn't Khione hated Leo since, like, the day they met?"

"Snow and fire don't exactly mix," Reyna said softly. "And Khione _has_ been more or less MIA since the fight on Mount Olympus."

Hazel leaned back in her chair, looking pretty satisfied with herself. "Well that's what happened then. Khione drained Leo's powers."

"How would we reverse it?"

"Uh, that one I don't know," Hazel answered, with wide eyes. "I don't think you can if a goddess was the reason they're gone. Kinda like when Percy and Jason lost their memories… Juno had taken them, so she was the only one who could give them back."

"You mean the only way to get Leo's powers back is to get them back from Khione?"

"Exactly!" Hazel frowned. "I thought goddesses were supposed to know a lot more than average half-bloods."

Reyna shrugged. "I had my suspicions, but I wanted to confirm them, and I knew that you knew a lot about demigod powers."

"Well, you're right about that," Hazel replied with a grin. "Any more suspicions you need confirmed?"

"Just a question… it goes along the same lines. How would a charmspeaker lose her powers?"

"Are you talking about Piper?" Hazel stood up to get more tea. "Well, a charmspeaker's powers could actually be harder to dispatch than someone with powers like Leo, for example, because they're powers are less obvious. Charmspeakers rely on their voices and their looks, but more on the looks." She paused, considering what to say next. "The easiest and most affective way to get rid of a charmspeaker's powers would be to get rid of their voice. I actually know a potion that would do that… and it's really strong too. It'd get rid of her voice for months most likely, and it's _very_ difficult to cure. In fact, I think the only known cure is gorgon blood… and that's almost impossible to find."

Reyna sighed. She had known that much. Reluctantly, she stood up to leave.

"Thanks Hazel," she said. "You've really helped."

"Yeah no prob," Hazel replied. "Tell the others hi for me, will ya? And make sure to remind Halley that she still owes me five denarii."

Reyna cracked a smile at that. "You don realize that you're never going to see that money, right?"

"Of course I do," she replied with a grin. "But I can always hope. See you later Reyna."

"Bye Hazel."

Reyna walked out of the shop and down the streets of New Rome, wondering what she was going to do to help her friends out. As she was making her way to the barrier, she happened to run into two younger teenagers. One was a girl with dark skin who looked about thirteen. The other was a Chinese boy with a baby face that made him look about fourteen or fifteen, though he could've been older. Reyna recognized two medals pinned onto the boy's chest. One was the Mural Crown, which signified he had done something to earn a pretty big military honor. The other one was the Centurion medal. Reyna made a mental note that whoever this kid was, he was pretty important.

"Oh, sorry," the girl said. She studied Reyna with strange golden eyes. "I've never seen you around before… are you new?"

Reyna smiled faintly. "No, I'm an old veteran from camp. My name's Reyna."

The two teens' mouths dropped open.

"You're Reyna?" the boy asked. "As in… _the_ Reyna? Daughter of Apollo?"

"That's me," Reyna said.

"What are you doing here?" the girl asked. "I thought you became immortal after the war with the giants."

"Well, I did actually," Reyna replied. "But I came here to visit an old friend. Now, who are you two? Who are your parents?"

"My name's Hazel Levesque," the girl replied. "I'm the daughter of Pluto." She gestured to the boy. "This is Frank Zhang. Son of…"

"Son of Mars," Frank interrupted. Reyna noticed he didn't sound extremely proud about that.

"My friend mentioned you. She said you guys recently went on a quest together."

They both nodded. Reyna could tell they found it a little awkward, or maybe scary to be talking to her, so she decided it would probably be best to leave.

"It's nice to meet you both," Reyna said. "But I need to be getting back."

Frank and Hazel both murmured goodbyes and Reyna went on her way.

_Something about those two was different_, she thought. _They're super powerful, but something's bothering both of them._

That wasn't the only thoughts running through Reyna's mind. She also couldn't help but think that she was going to be seeing a lot more of Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque.

**I hope that chapter wasn't too confusing. Since I already had Hazel daughter of Trivia, but I still wanted Hazel daughter of Pluto, I decided I would have two Hazels for just this chapter. From now on though, if it mentions Hazel, assume it's Hazel Levesque (unless I say otherwise.)**

**Next Chapter: Halley's trip to Europe!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Happy New Year! **

**Okay, for this chapter, I do mention Hazel daughter of Trivia. She'll be called Hazel maybe two times, but then it switches to Hazie, which is probably what she'll be called from now on, just to keep down confusion between her and Hazel Levesque.**

Halley knew everyone else thought she was an idiot for going out to find Piper when the daughter of Aphrodite had specifically said not to. But Halley was known for being impulsive, as most half-bloods were, so she didn't really think about what she was doing before she had already hoped a plane to New York, and then one to Paris, where she knew Piper had been with her dad. She was currently sitting on a bed in a semi-snazzy hotel. It was the middle of the night, and she had just sent Dakota and Annabeth her text message asking for help.

Dakota had said he'd be coming to help, but Halley had no idea when he would get here. If he had been at his house when he had gotten her message, it would probably take a long time for him to be able to get to Paris. If he had been anywhere near the east coast, he'd get here faster.

"Gods, Dakota," Halley muttered. "I wish you'd get here already."

"Someone call for the amazing son of Mercury?"

Halley looked over to the open door of her balcony. Standing there was Dakota, a giant smirk on his face.

"Dakota!" Halley exclaimed, jumping off of her bed. She ran towards him, but stopped short in front before she hugged him. "How'd you get here so fast?"

"Nico helped me," Dakota explained. "He shadow-traveled me here, but he couldn't stay."

"Nico?" Halley frowned for a second, but then shook her head. "Whatever. I found out where Piper's staying, but it'll be a bit difficult to get in."

Dakota raised an eyebrow. "Is that a challenge? How hard can it be for two of the sneakiest children of Mercury to break into a five-star hotel in Paris?"

"Not sure," Halley said, reaching for her messenger bag and digging out her sword. "It'd be easier if the hotel wasn't being guarded by Gaea's followers."

"It's being guarded?" Dakota asked. "Why?"

"Because Dirt Lady doesn't want us getting to Piper?" Halley responded with a shrug. "Either way, I have an idea of how to get to her."

Halley flashed a smile at her brother, a smile all of her other friends were scared of, but Dakota had never feared because it always lead to some whacked out plan that had about a 95% chance of _not_ working.

"You know, one of these days I'm going to end up dying from your insane plans," Dakota muttered, "Let's just hope that day isn't today."

…

With their winged shoes, Halley and Dakota got to Piper's hotel in no time.

"I don't guess you know what room she's in, do you?" Dakota asked. "Or are you planning on just walking through the front lobby and asking for the McLeans' room?"

"That's exactly what I was planning to do," Halley retorted as she hovered in the air. "And if they won't tell me what room they're in, I'm going to threaten them with my sword."

Dakota rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because they'll totally be able to tell that it's a sword."

"Be positive, Bro," Halley joked. "Anyway, I do happen to know which room Piper is in. She's in that room there, peeking out of the window. But don't worry, I can tell she's being careful."

Dakota looked where Halley was pointing. Close to the top floor, at one of the rooms with a large balcony, he could barely make out the head of a teenage girl with short brown hair.

"Okay, so your plan?"

"Remember how you got into my hotel room?" Halley asked. "Yeah, that's basically all I've got."

"Land on the balcony and knock? I figured you'd be more creative, Hals," Dakota smirked.

"She'll see us before we knock," Halley said, starting her descent down to Piper's balcony.

Dakota rolled his eyes again and followed her. He didn't know Piper as well as Halley did, but after the past year he had gotten to know her fairly well.

The two of them landed on the balcony silently, keeping their hands close to the hilt of their swords, just in case. Unlike what Halley had thought, Piper hadn't seemed to notice they were there.

"Okay, new plan," Dakota whispered. "Send her a mind message to let us in."

Halley frowned. "Fine," she grumbled.

She closed her eyes. Dakota could sense her sending her thoughts out towards Piper. In no time, the daughter of Aphrodite stuck her head out the door. She smiled brightly and gestured for them to come in. Halley sent Dakota a confused glance and then followed Piper inside.

…

The hotel room was incredible… and very large. Piper was wearing pajama bottoms and a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. She didn't say anything, which only peaked Halley's curiosity.

"Is everything okay, Piper?" she asked.

Piper looked up at her. Her eyes looked like she wanted to say something, but she sighed and looked back down at her feet.

Dakota raised his eyebrow. He sent Halley at thought message.

_Hals, I don't think she can talk_.

_What?_ Halley responded. _That's… is that even possible?_

_Why don't you ask her?_ Dakota said.

Halley bit her lip and looked back at Piper. "Piper…" she started slowly. "Did… did something happen to your voice?"

Piper's head shot up. Her eyes were wide as she gave Halley that charade sign that someone had guessed right by pointing at her nose with one hand and Halley with the other.

"Oh, great," Dakota muttered. "First we have a fire user who can't use fire anymore, and now we've got a charm-speaker who can't speak."

Piper looked at them both in shock and confusion. When her message didn't really get across, she stomped her foot in frustration.

Halley glanced at Dakota, then back at Piper. "I have an idea," she said. "Piper, I'm going to connect both of our minds with yours, so you can talk without the crazy charades, okay?"

Piper nodded slowly. It wasn't like Halley had never communicated to her mind before.

Halley had no problem connecting their minds. She sent a message to Piper to let her know it was working.

_Okay, can you tell us what happened?_

Piper bit her lip and nodded. _It was a couple of days ago. Dad and I had been hanging out in the city all day, and had stopped at this café for lunch…_ She told them the story of what had happened the day she lost her voice.

"What café?" Dakota asked out loud.

_I don't remember,_ Piper said. _My guess is that it was poison, but I hadn't eaten anything all day, and I doubt someone at the café would've known who I was to know to poison my drink. _Her eyes widened. _Unless…_

"Unless what, Piper?" Halley asked.

_There was something about that weird lady with the hat,_ she answered. _She was sort of familiar. But it wasn't a good familiar._

"You said she spoke both French and English fluently, right?" Dakota asked.

Piper nodded. _But there was a familiar ring in her voice, like I'd heard it before. I just don't know where or when… Oh gods! That's it!_

She jumped off her bed where she'd been sitting and ran over to where her suitcase was.

"Piper?" Halley and Dakota asked at the same time.

_She was older than me by just a little, but any good make-up artist can make herself look older if she has the right materials. Especially if those materials just happen to be magic._

"Magic?" Halley asked. "Do you mean you think that this lady is a half-blood?"

_Not just any half-blood,_ Piper said. She lifted out a camera from her bag and started scrolling through the pictures. She stopped on one and closed her eyes. _A daughter of Aphrodite. The one who hates me more than just about anyone._

She held the camera up towards Halley and Dakota. They both walked over and leaned down to look at it.

It was a picture of the Aphrodite cabin, but Piper had zoomed in on one face in particular.

_Drew's a charm-speaker. She knows better than anyone that we're nothing without our voices. She was the lady at the café. She's the one that poisoned me._

"Drew's working for Gaea," Dakota muttered.

"Crap," Halley commented.

…

"Are you sure?" Annabeth asked.

On the other side of the Iris-message, Halley nodded. After talking with Piper, she'd been busy IM-ing. Right now she was currently talking with basically everyone else who was in Percy's apartment, though only Percy and Annabeth were really visible. Jason and Leo were somewhere behind them, and they had mentioned something about Nico being passed out on the sofa.

"What Piper said makes sense," Halley said. "We all know Drew hates Piper…"

"But we never figured she'd ever side with _Gaea_," Percy grumbled. "Even though basically everyone hates her."

"I IM'd Chiron," Halley said. "He said that Drew hasn't been at camp in over a month. It _has_ to be her."

She glanced back over her shoulder to where Piper was sitting. "Piper says that she's positive that it's Drew. The fact that she was able to easily disguise herself _and_ that she was fluent in French." She frowned, listening to Piper. "She also said something about Drew calling her 'dear'."

"That's Drew," Leo's voice called out. "She loved calling people names like that. Course, she never called me anything like that… she doesn't really like me."

"Who _does_ she like?" Annabeth grumbled.

"She likes Jason," Leo pointed out.

Jason muttered something incoherent and Halley snickered. Dakota stuck his head into the Iris-message picture.

"I don't see why she would," he said. "There isn't anything good about…"

"Dakota, I would shut up if I were you," Jason yelled.

Dakota laughed and Halley rolled her eyes. "Like that would ever happen." Then she tilted her head to the side, listening to Piper again.

"Piper says that no one likes Leo, and that Drew would probably do anything to get at her out of the way."

Leo and Jason stuck their heads into the picture.

"No one likes me?" Leo asked in an irritated tone. "Piper's gone crazy! I'm a very likeable person."

Everyone started laughing at him. Leo grumbled something they couldn't hear and walked back out of sight.

"Can you get Piper to come over here?" Jason asked Halley once the laughter had died down.

"I'll try," Halley said as she turned around. "Piper! Come over here."

There was a pause as she waited for a response.

"She wants to know why," Dakota answered before Halley could. That earned him a smack on the back of the head.

Jason looked slightly hurt. "I know she can't talk, but I still want to see her."

Percy and Dakota started snickering. Halley grinned.

"Piper says she's in her pajamas and doesn't want to come over here," Halley said.

"We've seen her a lot worse," Leo shouted. "Like covered in blood, mud… heh, that rhymed."

Five groans came from both sides of the conversation.

"Tell Piper it'll be okay," Annabeth said reassuringly. "We all know what she's been through."

Piper finally stuck her head into the picture. Jason grinned when he saw her.

"Hey Piper," he said.

She smiled faintly and shifted her eyes towards Halley.

"Piper says hi," the daughter of Mercury supplied.

"Guys! I think I have it figured out!"

Reyna's voice came out of nowhere. Jason, Percy, and Annabeth spun around madly looking for her, since she seemed to have spoken form their side of the line.

Suddenly, she appeared behind them. Her long blonde braids looked a little frazzled, like she had just jumped out of bed. That probably wasn't the case, but Reyna had a certain look in her eyes, a look that showed she was eager about something.

"I talked to Hazel," she said.

"You mean Hazie, right?" Halley asked. "Daughter of Trivia?"

"Of course," Reyna said, a little confused. Then her eyes lit up as she figured out what Halley meant. "Oh, yeah… I forgot her…"

"Who?" Percy asked.

"I'll talk about that in a minute," Reyna said. "But right now I have to tell you what I learned."

"Did you figure out a way to get my powers back?" Leo asked.

Reyna shook her head. "Sorry Leo," she said. "But I did figure out how you possibly lost them."

"How?" Leo shouted.

"Hazie mentioned that the only way you could really lose your powers would be if a god or goddess stole them…"

"I bet it was Khione!" Leo exclaimed, not even giving Reyna a chance to finish.

Reyna raised her eyebrow. "That's what we thought too," she said slowly. "But there's a problem. You can't get them back unless you get them back from Khione… It's like when Jason's and Percy's memories were stolen."

"Oh, great," Leo grumbled. "I'm going to be flameless forever."

Halley frowned and looked over at Dakota and Piper. Then she turned back to the Iris-message.

"How long are you guys planning on staying there?" she asked.

They looked at Percy, who shrugged. "Mom and Paul are away for a while, but I'm sure they'll be fine with you staying over."

"Okay," Halley said, "we'll be to New York as fast as we can."

With that, she waved her hand through the message.

Piper looked at her with questioning eyes.

_What are we going to tell my dad?_ she asked.

"We'll just have to explain to him what's going on," Dakota said. "Hey, do you think I could get some Kool-Aid?"

Piper sighed. _Check the fridge,_ she said, pointing at the small kitchenette. Then she looked back at Halley. _I still haven't explained the whole 'demigod' deal._

Halley rubbed her temples. "Ugh, Piper… Okay, well, the timing and method aren't perfect, but we have to tell him Piper."

_Are you going to?_ Piper asked.

Halley grinned slightly. "Don't worry; I'm good at explaining things to make them make sense."

…

It was about five o'clock in the morning when they woke Tristan up. He wasn't happy, especially since it was Dakota that had woke him up.

"What? Who are you?" he had asked in alarm.

"Piper's friend," Dakota had responded. "She told me to wake you up. She… well, there's something you need to know, Mr. McLean."

They had him sit down on the couch in his room. Piper sat beside him while Halley and Dakota remained standing.

"You don't know us, Mr. McLean," Halley started. "But we're two of Piper's friends. We… we came here to help her out."

"What do you mean?" Tristan asked. "She just had an allergic reaction. She should be fine."

"That's not true, sir," Dakota said. "Look, it's sort of hard to explain, so I'm going to let Halley take care of the explaining."

Halley sat down on the coffee table in front of them, looking at Piper for an idea of what to say.

"Piper was going to tell you this the day she lost her voice," she started. "You remember being kidnapped and rescued?"

"Not really," Tristan replied. "I just remember it caused a lot of problems."

"Well, sir," Halley said slowly, "The thing is… you were kidnapped by, a… a giant. Piper and our friends Leo Valdez and Jason Grace saved you."

"A giant…" Tristan murmured. "You mean from like those Greek myths?"

Halley nodded. "Yes… except that it isn't a myth sir. You've heard all those stories about demigods, right?"

"Yes…" Tristan said. "But those stories aren't true."

"Sir… I know it's hard for you to understand, but they are. Piper… Piper's a demigod. So are Dakota and me."

Tristan frowned. "That's crazy. Impossible."

_Halley, can you connect my mind to my dad's?_

Halley studied Piper for a second. That wasn't a bad idea. Halley had never tried to really connect to a human mind before, but it was definitely worth a shot.

She concentrated for a second, focusing on connecting the two minds with her own. That normally worked best. It took a second, but she was eventually able to do it. Halley gave Piper a slight nod to tell her it had worked.

_Dad,_ Piper said. _Halley's telling the truth._

Tristan jumped when he heard his daughter's voice in his mind. "Pipes… is that really you?"

_Yes Dad. Halley's a daughter of the Roman god Mercury. She can connect people's minds so they can communicate without speaking out loud._

Tristan looked up at Halley.

"She's telling the truth sir. And she really _is_ speaking to you," Halley said.

Tristan looked back at Piper. "I… I sort of remember… you're mother is a goddess?"

Piper nodded. _My mom is Aphrodite,_ she said with a slight smile.

"Aphrodite…" Tristan's eyes widened. "I fell in love with the goddess _Aphrodite_?"

Halley and Piper both nodded. Dakota smirked.

"That's a pretty big score, man," he said.

Tristan was too dazed to pay attention, but Halley shot her brother a glare that read "shut up, before I hurt you".

_Dakota and Halley are here to take me back to the States, Dad,_ Piper said. _It'll be safer._

"What do you mean, Pipes?"

_It's too complicated to explain right now, but being a demigod isn't easy. We always have to be careful. Some of us have to be more careful than others. I didn't lose my voice from an allergic reaction. The truth is, as a daughter of Aphrodite, I have the ability to charmspeak, which basically means I can be very persuasive. Someone doesn't want me to be able to do that, so they put… something in my drink that day that made me lose my voice._

Tristan glanced over at Halley, not quite sure what Piper meant.

Halley scratched her head. "Uh, a two summers ago, Piper, five of our other friends, and I had to sail to Greece on a quest. We… we sort of made some enemies that aren't very happy with us. We think that those enemies might be behind this."

"Oh," Tristan replied. "So now you're going to take her back to the States?"

"Yes sir. Like she said, it's safer there for us. Besides, we have a friend who might be able to figure out how to get Piper's voice back."

Tristan nodded. "When will you leave?"

"As soon as we can," Dakota said.

"Take my jet," Tristan said, pulling out his cell phone. The three half-bloods instinctively scooted away, even though they all had phones of their own. Tristan frowned when he noticed. "Is something wrong?"

"Demigods and cell phones don't always mix well," Halley explained. "We have phones, but we try to avoid using them if at all possible."

"Oh," Tristan said again. Then he proceeded to dial the number for his pilot. When he hung up, he looked up at the others. "Get your stuff. I'll go with you to the airport."

Piper smiled at her dad and hugged him. _Dad, I promise, everything will turn out okay._

Halley grinned and opened her mouth to say something similar, but Dakota elbowed her. He sent her a private message.

_Hals, we can't promise that things will be okay, so keep your mouth shut._

Halley frowned at him and then turned back to Tristan. "We're ready to go whenever you are…"

That's when the windows crashed in.

**Cliffy! Whooo! **

**It's been forever since I've written a good action scene, so I figured it was about time. Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**So, a lot of you reviewed asking for a quick update. Well, you got it!**

**Enjoy =)**

After Halley had hung up the Iris-message, Percy had called his Sally and Paul to ask if the others could stay over. It took some slight persuasion, but eventually they agreed.

"Let the girls stay in our room or the guest room," Sally instructed. "You and the boys will have to work out where else to sleep. I think there might be an air mattress in the hall closet."

"Thanks Mom," Percy said, starting to hang up.

"Wait, Percy, before you go…" Sally said frantically.

"Yeah?"

"Percy, what is going on? Is everything okay?"

Percy glanced at Annabeth who was standing next to him.

"We just… something came up, and we figured it would be better if we worked it out together," he answered, trying to keep his voice calm. "Don't worry, Mom. We'll be careful."

Sally sighed. "Okay Percy."

"Bye Mom."

Percy hung up the phone and turned to Annabeth.

"I hate lying to her, but I can't tell her that Gaea's looking for us and trying to steal our powers."

"It'll be okay Percy," Annabeth responded. "Sally understands that there are some things we can't really talk about."

Percy sighed. "You're right, but still…"

"Of course I'm right, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said. "Now come on, I think Reyna had something else she needed to tell us."

They walked back into the living room where Reyna, Leo, and Jason were all crowded around Nico, who had apparently just woken up.

"Hey Nico!" Percy said cheerfully. "Glad to see you're up!"

The other four looked up at them. Percy and Annabeth immediately noticed the worried looks on their faces.

"What happened?" Annabeth asked.

"Nico had another dream," Reyna said quietly.

"The same one?"

Nico shook his head. "It's different. I didn't see the mountain, or hear Gaea talking either. I saw my sister…"

"Bianca?" Percy asked.

"No…" Nico frowned. "I forgot I hadn't told you guys about Hazel…"

"I met her," Reyna said. Then she frowned. "Nico… what did you see in your dream?"

"I… I saw her and that guy Frank. They were at Camp Jupiter, walking up to Temple Hill... when there was a huge flash of light and this really weird voice saying their names." He looked up at the others. "That's when I woke up."

"I knew it," Reyna muttered.

They all turned to her.

"What do you mean, Reyna?" Jason asked.

"Just a hunch I had," she murmured. "I think Hazel and Frank might have something to do with the new prophecy."

"Oh, great," Annabeth said. She looked over at Percy. "We have to be the most unlucky half-bloods in the history of half-bloods."

"Being involved in three Great Prophecies?" Jason asked. With a sigh he added. "How does that happen anyway?"

"Like I said, we're just unlucky," Annabeth said.

"Well, if you think about it…" Nico said. "We are sort of lucky."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"Well, we did survive the first two. We easily could've died in either war."

They all stared at him a little blankly. No one had really been expecting Nico to be the optimist.

"What?" he asked. "It's true."

"He has a point," Leo said. "I only fought in one of those, and nearly died. But all four of you survived two wars. Either you've all got mad skill… which I guess is true, or you're all really lucky, which is true too."

They let this sink in for a little bit. Then Annabeth spoke up.

"You think Hazel and Frank have something to do with the prophecy?" she asked Reyna.

Reyna nodded. "It's just a hunch, but when I ran into them at Camp Jupiter, there was just something about them… they're both really powerful."

"Well I knew that," Jason said. "Before we went into hiding, Halley and I chose them to go on a quest to find to the find the camp's eagle standards."

"The eagle?" Reyna asked. "They found it?"

Jason nodded. "They are really powerful. Hazel's only thirteen and Frank just turned sixteen."

"And they found the eagle?" Reyna asked.

"Yeah," Jason said, "They did really well too."

"I saw Frank had a Mural Crown and a centurion badge," Reyna said.

"Well, actually, he got those before he went on the quest," Jason explained. "That's how me and Halley decided to send him. He picked Hazel as his companion."

"Wait," Leo said. "I thought you were supposed to take three on a quest… who was the third one?"

Jason frowned. "I don't remember… I'm sure there was one, but I don't remember who." He shook his head. "Anyway, you think that Hazel and Frank have something to do with the prophecy? What exactly?"

"I'm not really sure," Reyna said, "but I have an idea. But I want to wait until the other three get here."

Percy checked his watch. "Well, it's around eleven now… it'll be about five in the morning in Paris. They said they'd get here as soon as they could, but that'll still take a while. I say we try and get some sleep." He quickly explained the sleeping arrangements Sally had come up with.

…

As she and Annabeth got ready for bed, Reyna couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. She pointed this out to Annabeth.

The daughter of Athena frowned. "And you mean something's wrong besides the fact that some of our best friends are losing their powers, and the evil earth goddess, mother of the entire world, is trying to hunt us all down?"

"Yes, besides that," Reyna said. She sighed and collapsed down onto the bed.

The girls had decided to take the guest room. Nico claimed the couch, since he had already been there. Percy went ahead and slept in Paul and Sally's room and Jason and Leo fought over who got his bed and who got the air mattress. Leo won the bed with the argument "Jason's basically Prince of the Air, so the air mattress is perfect for him."

"What is it then?" Annabeth asked.

Reyna shook her head. "That's just it. I don't _know_. I'm a goddess, but I'm still as clueless as I was when I wasn't."

She groaned and covered her face with her hands. Annabeth couldn't help but give a slight laugh.

"It's okay, Reyna. We never know what's going on. I'm sure everything will turn out fine."

Reyna uncovered her face and raised her eyebrow. "You seriously believe that?"

Annabeth scrunched up her nose. "No… not really. But…" she sighed. "Honestly, that's what we need to keep thinking, whether we really believe it or not. Otherwise…"

"Don't," Reyna said, holding her hand up. "Don't say anything else." She smiled faintly. "But thanks, Annabeth."

Annabeth shrugged. "We're two girls trapped in an apartment with four guys… can't have you going crazy on me."

"That is true," Reyna said with a laugh. Suddenly, her vision was flooded with a bright golden light.

The image that followed was one of Halley and Dakota with their swords drawn standing in front of a broken window. They looked confused, like they had no idea how the window had been broken. Halley looked over and said something to Dakota, but Reyna couldn't hear it or tell what it was. Before Dakota had a chance to respond, something grabbed Halley's arm and she cried out in pain, collapsing to her knees.

…

The sound of the crash caused an automatic reaction. Halley and Dakota immediately pulled their swords out. Piper grabbed her dad's arm and pushed her behind him.

"Piper!" Dakota said. "Get your dad somewhere safe."

Piper quickly pushed her dad back into his bedroom. Halley and Dakota charged forward towards the windows, which were in the next room over. But when they got there, nothing but the broken window was the only thing that was obviously wrong with the room.

Halley looked over at Dakota. "This isn't right," she said.

Dakota shook his head. "What…"

Suddenly, Halley felt someone grab onto her arm. A burning, ripping pain flared up her arm. She screamed and felt her knees give out from under her.

"Halley!" Dakota yelled as he frantically looked behind her, trying to locate the person attacking her.

Her voice floated into his mind, but it sounded strained. Dakota could barely make out what she was saying.

_Left… side… head level._

Dakota still couldn't see the attacker, but he trusted that's what Halley meant, so he quickly moved to send a kick towards the area where his chest should've been, if they were human. If they were average giant size, it would be considerably lower, but still a decent target.

His foot connected with something solid, which immediately gave way, falling backwards. Halley fell to the ground and gasped for air. Dakota swung his sword in the direction the attacker had fallen, only to hit nothing but air.

"He's gone, Dakota," Halley rasped. "You kicked him and he jumped back out the window."

"Was he the only one?" Dakota asked.

"I think so," she replied.

Halley tried to get to her feet, but collapsed.

"Hey, are you okay?" Dakota bent down next to her, gently resting his hand on her back.

Halley shook her head. "I… I don't know." She took in a deep breath. "Are Piper and her dad okay?"

_We're fine_, Piper's voice floated into Dakota's mind. He nodded and helped Halley to her feet.

His sister looked at him expectantly. "Did you not hear me?" she asked. "I asked if Piper and her dad were okay."

Dakota stared at her as Piper and Tristan walked into the room. Both were dressed in regular clothes, and Piper had her book-bag slung over her shoulder.

_Why are you staring at Halley like that Dakota?_ Piper asked.

"I…" Dakota's eyes flicked from Halley to Piper. He took Halley's shoulders in his hands and gripped them tightly.

"Hey!" Halley protested, struggling against Dakota's grip. "What's going on?"

"Hals," Dakota said forcefully. "Look at me."

Halley glared at him. "_What_?" she snarled.

"Halley, Piper answered you," Dakota whispered. Fear entered Halley's eyes as she realized what he was saying.

"Can you not hear her?"

Halley looked like she wanted to start crying, but bit her lip. Slowly she shook her head.

"No… I can't."

Dakota cursed. Piper stood with her mouth slightly open in shock.

_They got to her too._

…

It was a long, quiet plane ride from Paris to New York. It had taken an extra hour or so for Halley and Dakota had to come up with a believable story of why the hotel window had been broken. Fortunately, they had Tristan for help. He easily helped with confirming their story of someone trying to break in and rob him. In the end, they believed that story and agreed to move Mr. McLean to a different room without charging for it or the window.

Tristan and Mellie had gone with them to the airport to see them off. Tristan gave the pilot specific instructions to take the three half-bloods (he didn't use that terminology, of course) to New York and to not ask questions.

So with the pilot minding his own business, the three were free to talk about whatever they liked. Only, that didn't happen. After the attack, Halley hadn't really talked at all, and of course Piper couldn't talk. That left Dakota doing most of the talking.

Dakota checked his watch as the pilot announced they were about two hours from their destination. His watch was still set on Paris time, which was close to six hours ahead of New York time. If it was about eight in Paris, then it was about two in New York, meaning they would probably get there around four… a great time to show up at Percy's apartment.

Dakota announced this to the other two.

_Well, I'm sure they'll be cheerful to see us,_ Piper said with a smile.

Halley looked at Dakota, who quickly relayed what Piper had said to her.

Halley nodded and leaned back down on the couch she was laying on.

"Hals," Dakota said. "What happened back there?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Halley mumbled, barely audible.

"Halley, you need to tell us so we can figure out what exactly is going on."

Halley quickly pushed herself up to a sitting position.

"You want to know what's going on?" she asked harshly. "I'll tell you what's going on. We were attacked, I let down my guard and some invisible… _thing_ stole my powers!"

"It's not your fault, Hals," Dakota said, trying to calm her down. "It was foul play. They attacked you from behind, and they were invisible."

Halley glared at him. "But now I'm blocked from hearing any mind communication. You can't even connect to my mind and talk to me like that. It's not that I just can't do it myself, but…" she didn't finish as she picked up one of the couch's throw pillows and chucked it across the room.

Dakota started to say something else, but he noticed Piper shaking her head out of the corner of his eye.

_Just, let it rest, Dakota. She's still in shock. Give her some time._

Dakota gave her a grudging smile and nod, then reclined back in his chair. Pretty soon, both Halley and Piper were asleep. Dakota couldn't blame them. They had all three been up all night. Dakota figured he should go ahead and catch some shut eye too, because he doubted that the next few days would give him any chance to do that.

**Okay, so this chapter is sort of short, but that's okay. The action scene wasn't exactly what I had wanted, but I like the way I wrote it instead. **

**Review :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for taking so long to update…. I'd give excuses, but frankly I don't have any so ENJOY :D**

Dakota had been right about arriving at Percy's apartment at four in the morning. Unfortunately, the short nap Halley had taken on the plane hadn't helped improve her mood any. She was still very grumpy… possibly even more so, since sleeping for only two hours when she was exhausted tended to just worsen her mood on any occasion.

Dakota looked at the door of Percy's apartment. "Should we knock, or pick the lock?" he asked.

Halley glared at him. "I'm going to blame that impossibly bad rhyme on your lack of sleep," she said. "And for the record, I'd go with knock… it's safer."

Beside her, Piper nodded. _If they hear someone trying to break in, they'll most likely assume it's one of the bad guys. You need to remember that we have some heavily armed friends in there._

"Okay… so I'll knock."

Dakota raised his fist and gave the door three solid knocks. They waited for awhile, but no one answered. Halley grumbled something under her breath, and pushed Dakota out of the way, pulling out her sword as she did.

"This is how you knock, Dakota," she muttered. Then she raised her sword and used the handle to beat loudly against the door.

Dakota quickly grabbed her arm and stopped it.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

Halley glared at him. "Knocking on the door," she said.

That's when the door opened and they were met with the tired looking face of Percy. He was clutching his pen in his hand, looking ready to uncap it at a moment's notice.

"Oh, it's just you guys," Percy said with a half yawn. He stepped back out of the doorway. Nico and Jason were standing behind him, both looking pretty dead tired. "Come on in. Leo and the girls are still asleep."

…

It took a few minutes to get everyone into the room. It took a considerable amount longer for them all to become coherent enough to actually do anything. But when they did, there wasn't a lot of joking around.

Reyna was looking around at all of them. Annabeth and Percy were sitting on the couch. Annabeth was leaning against Percy, still half asleep. Dakota was laying on the floor, looking very similar to the way Leo had earlier that day. Nico was on Percy's other side, absentmindedly playing with the skull ring on his finger. Halley and Reyna were sitting on the floor with their backs against the couch, doing their best to avoid the other three's feet. Piper and Jason were sitting across from them on the coffee table. Leo was doing his best not to fall asleep from his spot in Paul's recliner.

Halley's mood hadn't improved any, and her grouchiness didn't go unnoticed. The first thing Leo had asked her was what was wrong. She had looked at him for a second before breaking down in tears. Dakota had to explain what had happened because Halley refused to talk.

"Why is this happening?" Jason asked no one in particular, breaking the awkward silence. "Why is Gaea sending all these people after us? Why is she having them steal our powers?"

"I don't know," Annabeth answered with a yawn.

"Well, mine and Piper's are sort of obvious," Leo said. "We use ours when we're fighting all the time, but I don't understand why they took Halley's." He looked over at Dakota. "You said she told you she can't communicate mentally anymore, right? Why would they take those away?"

Halley grumbled and crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't know. Maybe it's just because I really ticked someone off?"

"It's not the first time," Dakota muttered.

Halley kicked him in the ribs.

"Ow!"

"Serves you right," she grumbled.

"Can you guys please try to cooperate for a little while?" Reyna asked. "Hals, I know you aren't in the greatest mood right now…"

Dakota scoffed. "That's an understa… OW! Halley!"

Reyna shot them both annoyed looks. "As I was saying, something serious is going on, and we don't really have any idea what that is." She bit her lip. "We need to figure out more about this, but we also need to find a way to get your powers back."

This last sentence was pointed more at Leo, Piper, and Halley.

"Piper wants to know how you plan on doing that," Dakota said.

"A quest?" Percy asked.

It was just a suggestion, but Reyna looked up at him like he was a genius.

"I'm not used to getting that look," he said. "Why are you looking at me like that Reyna?"

"Because that's exactly what I was thinking," she answered. "Only, I was thinking more along the lines of multiple quests."

"Multiple quests?" Annabeth asked. "What are you thinking these quests are?"

"Piper and Leo each go on their own quests to try and get their powers back, or at least find a lead of how to get them back. They can choose their companions, but I have suggestions for Leo since he's going to have to go against Khione. And Dakota should probably go with Piper." Reyna looked over at Piper. "I guess you can make Jason your other companion."

Piper smiled slightly.

"She says thanks Reyna!" Dakota said.

"What about me?" Leo asked. "You said you had a suggestion for who I should choose? And I'm guessing that fifty giant flamethrowers don't count."

"This might sound crazy," Reyna said, "but I think Leo needs to take those two campers from Camp Jupiter we were talking about earlier. Hazel and Frank."

"But I don't know them," Leo protested. He frowned. "Can't I take Halley or someone else? Annabeth or Percy? What about Nico?"

"Leo, Hazel and Frank aren't that bad," Jason said. "You guys should get along fine."

Leo didn't look happy about this. He started to say something else, but then Halley spoke up. She got to her feet, placed her hands on her hips, and glared at Leo.

"Look… You have to take Frank with you. In case you haven't noticed, you sort of don't have fire anymore. Frank has certain powers… they could really help you against Khione."

Leo looked at her in surprised. Halley's expression had softened. She looked tired, which wasn't surprising. But her grouchiness had suddenly vanished.

"What kind of powers?" Leo asked. "I thought you guys said he was a son of Mars? What powers could he have, except maybe being meaner than normal?"

Jason and Halley exchanged glances. "Frank… Frank's a descendant of Periclymenus. He has shape-shaping abilities."

Leo blinked. "A shape-shifter? I thought they were just myths."

Everyone just stared at him for a minute, until Dakota spoke up.

"Piper would like me to point out that last she checked… we are pretty much living myths. Shape-shifters aren't exactly that surprising."Piper a pointed look

"You just love to prove me wrong, don't you Beauty Queen?" Leo asked, giving Piper a pointed look.

Piper just grinned in response.

Suddenly, there was a loud thump out in the hallway. Everyone who had been almost asleep jumped up from their seats, scrambling for various weapons. Nico, Halley, Dakota, and Jason all unsheathed their swords. Percy pulled Riptide out of his pocket and quickly uncapped it. Annabeth and Piper both had out their knives in no time, and Reyna didn't hesitate to transform her necklace into her bow, notching an arrow in the same fluid motion. Leo didn't have a weapon or his tool belt on hand, so instead he sprinted into the kitchen and grabbed one of Sally's big frying pans.

"What was that?" Halley asked in a whisper.

"Hopefully someone friendly," Nico said.

Another thump resonated through the apartment. Immediately following it was a loud banging on the door and the sound of a familiar female voice shouting from the other side.

"Percy! Open this door before I break it down! I know you guys are in there!"

"Is that Thalia?" Leo asked.

"Thalia?" Percy called out.

"No, it's Steve Jobs! Open the door Seaweed Brain!" She banged on the door again.

"Better let her in," Annabeth said. "Or she'll most likely break down the door."

Percy opened the door and Thalia walked calmly into the room.

"Gods, it took you long enough," she stated. She looked around at the group gathered and the various weapons they were holding. "Did you guys think I was some monster coming to get you?" she asked with a grin.

"Thalia, if you knew the past few days we've all just had, you would be doing the same thing," Halley muttered, lowering her sword.

"What's up Sis?" Jason asked.

"Dad," Thalia responded coolly. When they all just stared at her with a "really" look, she frowned. "Too early, I guess. Anyway, I was at camp, trying to get some sleep when Rachel all of sudden broke into my cabin. She looked totally freaked out, and was holding a paint canvas…"

"That's never a good sign," Percy said, remembering all of Rachel's doomsday pictures he had seen. "What was on it?"

"It wasn't good," Thalia said. "Well, actually the picture would've been awesome if it hadn't been so… doomsday-ish." She sighed and pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket. "Rachel drew this copy up before I left."

Reyna took the paper from Thalia and examined the picture. It was excellently drawn, even if it had been done hastily. Reyna had to force herself to focus on the actual drawing instead of the artistic skills. The scene in the drawing showed two large caves that seemed to be underground. Standing in front of the caves were twelve figures, all with their backs turned. From the picture, it was hard to tell who the twelve figures were, but Reyna had a sneaky suspicion.

She passed the picture around to the rest of the group. When Nico got it, he made a strangled coughing sound.

"I've seen these caves before," he said. "In a dream, I think."

Annabeth took the picture from his hands and studied it closely. "We need to figure out more about this," she said. Looking up at Thalia, she added "Did Rachel say anything else?"

Thalia shook her head. "Not much… just two words: '_occulta mundi_', whatever that means."

"It's Latin," Halley said grimly. The other Romans in the group looked just as disturbed about Rachel's message as she did.

"It means 'hidden worlds'," Jason translated.

"_Invenire viam ad aliis mundos,_" Reyna said almost as if she was in a trance.

"What does that mean?" Leo asked nervously.

"Roughly," Dakota answered. "It means 'find the path to the other worlds'."

"That's what we have to do," Annabeth said. "We need to find out what is going on."

"But we also need to get our powers back," Halley stated.

Annabeth frowned. "That's true…" she paused, obviously thinking up a plan. "Okay, here's what we'll do: Piper, Jason, and Dakota will go try and find Drew. Halley, you'll go with Leo to Camp Jupiter and make sure he gets a quest with Frank and Hazel to find Khione. Then you can come back here and help Percy and me try and figure out what's going on."

Percy groaned. "Can't I go kill some monsters or something?"

"You could come with me to find these caves," Nico suggested, gesturing to Rachel's picture.

Percy considered his options. "Blind, deadly quest, or research project with Annabeth…"

Annabeth glared at him, then rolled her eyes. "Ugh, fine. You can go with Nico." She shifted her eyes to Thalia, who smirked.

"I'll make sure they don't get in too much trouble, Annabeth. Don't worry," Thalia promised.

"Who invited you to go with us?" Nico protested.

"Quests have three members; remember that rule, Death Boy?" Thalia said with a grin.

Percy and Nico groaned, though it was mostly for show. After their last adventure in the Underworld together, the three of them had grown to really respect each other as reliable back-up.

"I'll stick around and help you Annabeth," Reyna offered.

Annabeth smiled. "Thanks Reyna. You'll probably be way more help than Percy anyway."

"Hey!" Percy protested. Then, after considering Annabeth's comment, he added: "Though, you're probably right."

Piper yawned. Dakota spoke up for her again: "Piper says we try and get a few more hours of sleep, then we set out on our quests in the morning."

"Sounds like a plan," Thalia said. She pulled out some sleeping bags from her Hunter's pack. "These might come in handy."

It was probably the lack of sleep, but the others seemed to find this really funny. They had all settled down to sleep when Dakota finally asked Leo a question that had been bugging him since Thalia had gotten there.

"Leo…"

"Mmm?" Leo responded, half asleep already.

"How exactly were you going to use a frying pan as a weapon?"

**So, I just got TANGLED on DVD about a week ago, and I've been watching it quite a lot. My favorite part is where Flynn is fighting Maximus sword vs. frying pan, and I just had to add that into this chapter, and Leo seemed to be the most likely to pick a frying pan as a weapon. (It was either him or Percy, but since Percy has a definite weapon of choice, I went with Leo.)**

**Anyway, I've been contemplating whether to have any Thalico shipping or not. Normally, I wouldn't ship Thalia with anyone (because of the whole Hunter deal), and if I did, it would probably be very minor. But since Nico is about fourteen or fifteen in this story, I figured it could be possible. Tell me if you'd like to see that or not.**

**Review! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the late update. School, softball, etc.**

**Thalico is still up in the air. I'm not sure how well I would be at writing it anyway. **_(This is the SUPREME RULER OVERLORD OF THE UNIVERSE…eh, not really, it's just me, Kayla, happily invading ArcherDaughter's editors note as I read this chapter and try and help her get past her temporary writers block, ANYWAYS. I contributed to this chapter…just wanted everyone to know…and the original intention of this AN invasion was to say that I am completely for Thalico, so you should be to.)_**Either way, there will definitely be tons of cousin moments between the two of them (and our beloved Seaweed Brain!). There will also be brother/sister moments with Thalia and Jason, and possibly brotherly moments with Percy and Nico (I've always pictured them as having a brotherly bond… at least after Nico got over wanted to kill Percy).**_(pahaha way to make them sound like loving brothers ArcherDaughter…)_

Leo leaned his head up against the airplane window. He and Halley were on their way to Camp Jupiter, and somehow (Leo didn't want to know how) Halley had managed to get them first class tickets to San Francisco. They were halfway there- just had a quick stop to make a short stop at an airport in Missouri to switch planes- and Leo had been quiet almost the entire ride, except to ask the flight attendant for an enchilada. Hecouldn't hide the fact that he was scared, especially not from Halley.

"Leo, what are you worried about?" Halley asked. "I told you, Hazel and Frank are really cool kids. You should get along fine." She scratched the back of her head. "They are a little younger than us though. Frank's sixteen, I think… Hazel's thirteen."

"It's not that," Leo mumbled. He hesitated, and then added: "I'm worried about going up against Khione. I've fought her twice, and each time I've almost lost. I know you said Frank should be able to help me, but I don't want to put him in danger because of my problem. Khione stole _my_ powers. There's no reason to get someone else involved, especially if that person doesn't know what they're up against."

Halley looked past Leo and out the window with a distant look in her eyes.

"Hazel and Frank won't have a problem going against Khione," she said softly. "Not many people know this, but when they went on their quest to Alaska, they had to fight one of the giants."

"One of the giants?" Leo asked. "Like… _the Giants_? The same ones we fought?"

Halley nodded. "Only, this one never went to Greece. The giant was Alcyoneus, the oldest giant. While the other giants were in Greece, Alcyoneus killed in Alaska. That was the _real_ reason Hazel and Frank were sent to Alaska… not to get back Camp Jupiter's eagle. They got that by pure accident."

"You sent two inexperienced half-bloods to fight a giant?" Leo asked in disbelief. "Why didn't you and Jason go?"

"It would've raised too much suspicion. Jason, me, and a few others were the only ones that knew about Alcyoneus. We didn't want to alarm the camp, so we said that we were sending Hazel and Frank on a scouting mission north… nothing more."

"I'm still confused of why you picked them."

Halley sighed. "It's complicated… and not really my place to say why anyway. For now, let's just stick with the fact that Frank and Hazel both have experience up north."

Their conversation was interrupted by the pilot announcing that they would be landing shortly.

"Dakota's mom is meeting us with Maricel at the airport," Halley said, completely changing the subject. "She's going to come with us to Camp Jupiter, then I'm going to take her home on my trip back."

Leo frowned. He wasn't sure what he was confused about most… Halley's sudden change in subject or the fact that Marci was going to Camp Jupiter.

"Will she be allowed there?" he asked.

"I called ahead and cleared it. Normally, mortals aren't allowed at camp, but we're making an exception for her," Halley explained. "Especially after…" She stopped herself short. "Sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay," Leo said. "It wasn't Marci's fault, and I would swear that on the Styx."

"I know Leo," Halley said. Then she sighed "You have no idea how badly I want to kick Khione's frozen you-know-what to the darkest part of Tartarus for what she did to you guys."

"Then why don't you come with us?" Leo asked.

"It's not my fight," Halley replied firmly. "It never was. I don't know what Reyna sees for Hazel and Frank in all of this, but I do know that they _do_ have a part in the prophecy. I've known that since they returned from Alaska. If they weren't meant to play a role, then they would've been killed by Alcyoneus. They'll be more help against Khione than I ever would."

…

"Okay, Death Boy, where are we going?" Thalia asked from her seat in the back of Percy's car.

Nico, who was riding shotgun, didn't respond. He was too busy watching out the window.

"Turn there, Percy," was all he said.

"Fine, don't answer me," Thalia grumbled.

She leaned back in her seat and looked out the back window. The car that was behind them caught her eye and she frowned. It gave her a bad feeling. When Percy turned down the road Nico had pointed out, the car followed. Thalia turned to look out the front window, and saw that the road they'd turned on to was dirt; a middle-of-nowhere road. That wasn't suspicious at all.

"Percy… how long has that car been behind us?" Thalia asked.

Percy didn't even check his mirror. "Pretty much since we left the city," he said. "I don't think it's just a coincidence either. They've got to be tailing us."

Nico turned in his seat to see what they were talking about. His eyes widened when he recognized the car.

"I recognize that car," he said. "I saw it before while I was walking around the city. It was following me then too, so I had to shadow-travel away."

"I'm assuming these guys are bad news then," Thalia said, slowly pulling out her bow. "Well, this should slow them down. Nico, hold onto my legs. I don't want to fly out of the car."

"Wait?" Nico asked is shock. "What?"

Thalia ignored him as she rolled down her window and pushed her upper body out of it far enough to where she could sit in the window frame. Nico didn't really have any choice but to grab her legs. Thalia notched an arrow and pulled her bow back. With a flash of silver, her arrow imbedded itself in the front tire of the car behind them. As it stopped, Thalia slipped back into Percy's car.

"That might not slow them down long," she said. "You might want to pick up the pace Seaweed Brain."

Percy pressed the gas harder, and Nico turned back towards Thalia.

"Nice shooting Rex," Nico said with a grin.

Thalia smirked in reply. "Thank you. I try."

Percy rolled his eyes and then turned them back to the road. With no warning, he slammed on the brakes.

"Hey Nico?" he said skeptically. "Are those your caves?"

…

"And you're sure that Chiron will be able to help us?" Reyna asked as Annabeth turned into the dirt road that led to Camp Half-Blood.

"If anyone can, it's him," Annabeth replied. "He's thousands of years old, and he's pretty much seen everything there is to see. I don't know who else would be able to help us."

By that time, they had pulled into the camp driveway. Annabeth pulled her car up next to the Delphi Strawberry Service vans that were parked in front of the store. The two girls climbed out and looked around at Camp Half-Blood. Annabeth took a deep breath in a smiled.

"Gods I've missed this place," she said. "Come on. Chiron's either at the Big House or archery range."

As they walked up to the Big House, Reyna looked around at the scenery. She'd been here before, but never really during the winter season. The few times she had been during that time, she had only been over to visit Rachel in her cave, and she hadn't been to the main part of camp. Annabeth led them up the Big House stairs and didn't even knock before opening the door.

"Chiron? Are you in here?"

"Annabeth?" the centaur's voice came from the next room over. A few seconds later, he rolled out into the room where the two girls were. "What are you doing here child?"

Annabeth was about to respond, until she was attacked in a vicious hug by a familiar figure with furry hind-quarters.

"ANNABETH!" Grover shouted. "You're back!" He stepped backwards, holding Annabeth at an arms' length and studied her face. "Where's Percy?"

"On a scouting mission with Nico and Thalia," Annabeth responded. She looked past Grover to Chiron, who was looking at them curiously. "That's why we're here, Chiron. Reyna and I need some information, and we were hoping you could help."

Chiron nodded slowly. "Come into the living room girls."

As they started walking that way, the front door swung open and none other than Rachel Elizabeth Dare walked in.

"Reyna! Annabeth! I knew you two were coming!" she said, giving them each a hug. "How've things been? Oh my gods, Annabeth I've missed you! It's been forever! How are you and Percy? Have you even seen him since you went underground? Never mind, I'm sure you probably have…"

"Rachel," Chiron said firmly but kindly. "Annabeth and Reyna are here for important matters. If you don't mind…" he gestured towards the living room.

"Oh, sure," Rachel replied. Her smile faded as she looked at the two of them with a serious expression. "You two are here about the prophecy, right?"

They nodded.

"Good," Rachel said. "Because I have some new paintings you need to see."

…

Piper hated not being able to talk. She hated having to rely on Dakota to talk for her. When she found Drew, she was going to make that overgrown…. Piper was glad Dakota had made their connection to where he could only hear what she specifically said to him, not all of her thoughts, so she was free to use as many swear words in her mind as she wanted to. Not that Dakota would really care anyway… he had grown up with Halley.

They had no idea where to start, so they had decided to try and find out all they could about Drew. To do that, they decided to go ask someone who would know more about her.

Piper looked at the door in front of her. According to Thalia, this was apartment Silena Beauregard was staying while she took classes at NYU. According to Thalia, if anyone would be able to give them information on Drew, it would be Silena, since Drew's mother had died years ago.

After exchanging glances with Jason and Dakota, Piper knocked on the door. A few minutes later, Silena opened it.

"Hello?" she said. She frowned when she saw who it was. "Piper? Jason? What are you two doing here?"

"Hi Silena," Jason responded. "We need to talk to you. Can we come in?"

Silena nodded and moved to the side to let them in. Once they were sitting down in her living room, she didn't hesitate to jump straight to the point.

"What's going on?" she asked. "I heard you guys had gone underground, so why are you here?"

She looked at each of them, and when she saw Dakota she grinned. "I remember you! You're one of the sons of Mercury I met in Elysium."

"That's me," Dakota said, grinning slightly. It was still weird for him to talk about the few months he had spent in the Underworld, even though it had been almost two years since he'd come back.

Silena seemed to understand. "It's weird for me too," she said. "But Charlie and I are doing great. We're engaged! The wedding's in June, on the solstice if you guys want to come."

Piper grinned, and nodded. _We'd be glad to,_ she told Dakota.

He relayed the message. When he said that was what Piper had said, Silena raised her eyebrow skeptically.

"What's wrong Piper?" she asked. "Do you have laryngitis?"

"Something like that," Jason muttered. With a deep breath, he continued. "That's actually why we're here. Piper went to Paris with her dad recently, and while she was there, someone slipped a potion into her drink that made her lose her voice."

Silena turned to Piper with a shocked expression. "Oh my gods, Piper, I'm sorry." She thought for a moment. "I've heard of a potion that can do that, but I can't remember what it's called, or how it's made. Do you know who poisoned you?"

"Drew," Jason answered. "She's sided with Gaea."

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Silena grumbled.

"We were hoping you could tell us more about her," Dakota said. "Since no one at Camp Half-Blood knows all that much."

Silena sighed. "I don't know that much myself, to be honest. I know her dad didn't really want anything to do with her; that's why she was a year-rounder. Apparently, when Drew was younger, she made the mistake of using her charm-speaking powers on a guy her dad worked for. She talked him into giving her dad a raise. That worked out fine until the guy realized what he'd done. He fired Drew's dad, and her dad took it out on her."

Jason, Piper, and Dakota exchanged glances.

"Where does her dad live?" Dakota asked.

Silena pursed her lips. "I'm not positive, but I want to say that last I heard, he was living in Hawaii." She looked at each of them, and with a faint smile added "I hope you packed you grass skirts and surf boards."

**This is the line break Kayla wanted to add after the first section, but I wouldn't let her….. I moved it here, because it fits better. **_**(LINEBREAK…haha ArcherDaughter never does these…and I have a hilarious pun stuck in my head at the moment…are and of you Avatar TLA fans? If you are, you'll get this, Toph (word check tried to change Toph's name to Tophi) and Aang's relationship is a little bit Rocky…pahaha get it, rocky? Go ahead and laugh…I know you want to).**_

**You'll have to forgive her. I made the mistake of giving her free reign on this chapter.**

**Anyways, review!**


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